Possession

The button box seems to have special powers over the person who possesses it but one question is raised during Gwendy’s stewardship of the box: Does Gwendy own the box or does the box own Gwendy? When Gwendy first sees the box, she admits that she wants it because she recognizes right away that it belongs to her. By the end of the novel, Gwendy has swung in her beliefs to the point that she feels as if the box is her significant other—as if it owns her and she cannot do anything of which it does not approve.

When Gwendy first see the box, she is so enthralled by it that she even forgets her suspiciousness of Farris. “She wants it because it’s hers. Like something really valuable, really loved, that was lost so long ago it was almost forgotten but is...